If you asked me to name my 10 favorite songs, the answer wouldn’t be instantaneous. But I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you my top pick, “Georgia on My Mind.” Ray Charles sings it best. Willie Nelson is my runner-up.
Indeed, Georgia is always on my mind.
I have never wanted to live anywhere else.
In 1989 three partners and I bought a company based in Spartanburg. The Spartanburg-Greenville area is one of the Southeast’s most dynamic regions. But before we signed the documents, I knew that I wasn’t moving to South Carolina. Instead, the headquarters was coming to Georgia.
If you tried to separate my love for and loyalty to Georgia from my soul, well, imagine the roar of a 50-yard stretch of Velcro being ripped apart. That’s never going to happen. Nonetheless, I do wonder in which direction our beloved Peach State is aimed.
And that raises the question: “What does Georgia want to be when it grows up?”
Since the colony of Georgia was founded in 1732, you might consider that a silly question. But if you compare our state, age-wise, to its counterparts in Europe, Georgia is still in diapers.
Visionary leadership has helped Georgia to become the envy of most states. Atlanta and its world’s busiest airport have been magnets to draw waves of paycheck-creating investments. But I do wish more of that “wealth” could be distributed among jobs-starved rural Georgians.
When Sonny Perdue became governor in 2003, he was determined to make Georgia the best-managed state in the nation. He created the Commission for a New Georgia (CNG). I served with two dozen other business and industry leaders. CNG accomplished Gov. Perdue’s goal, while saving Georgia taxpayers millions of dollars.
Then came Gov. Nathan Deal. During his eight years in office, Georgia became the nation’s best state in which to do business. Jobs poured into Georgia. Gov. Brian Kemp and his team have kept that national distinction, luring billions of dollars of investment and tens of thousands of new jobs.
Much of my adult life has been spent as a booster. I’ve been a chamber of commerce president, chairman of an industrial development authority and vice-chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Gov. Deal offered me a seat on the state’s economic development board. I declined, but that’s another story. Today I am on an economic development authority.
I know the value of jobs creation and the importance of easing the property-tax burden on homeowners. It is clear that our state is ultra-business- friendly. Georgia is on a rocket ride. And that brings me back to the question:
“What does Georgia want to be when it grows up?”
When God was handing out geography, He dealt Georgia a “royal flush.” We couldn’t ask for more variety and beauty. I don’t advocate erecting “No Vacancy” signs on our state’s borders, but it’s time to consider where we’re headed. Georgia, being what it is, will not be denied more than its share of concrete and steel.
But you can chisel this into Elberton granite:
Georgia will never get more natural wonders such as North Georgia’s mountains and streams or South Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp. I believe God expects us to be responsible stewards of our natural resources.
Quality of life is one of our greatest assets. Every growth decision should consider that. Georgia is in the enviable position of being choosy. We shouldn’t be giving tax incentives to attract projects that we might regret later. One example—in my opinion—is the tsunami of electricity-gobbling data centers flooding our state.
Georgia Power Company now believes that it must backtrack on its promise to quit burning coal, so that it can feed these gargantuan data centers. And that means more poisonous heavy metals are likely to be leaking into our groundwater from unlined toxic-coal-ash ponds. Wouldn’t safe water and clean air be two of the basics of quality of life?
So, again, I ask, “What does Georgia want to be when it grows up?”
Sing it, Ray.
“Georgia, Georgia ….”
